Yummy

This is another time when I wish that I was a creative writer.  I love these pictures.  I made Pioneer Woman's lemon blueberry pancakes.  They were very good and very easy.  I lost count of how many Sam ate.  I think it was 7!

Look at his face when I handed him another pancake!

Needless to say-- we will be having these again and soon! And I must make sure there is time for a bath afterwards!

we ate our way through new olreans...

so, zeb and i go to a town for  food. period.  eating is our favorite thing to do when we travel. last week before heading to NOLA i said that i didn't understand why everyone loved the food so much down there, because i sure didn't.  but, the thing is that i eat NO spicy food.  i don't understand why someone eats something that hurts.  it makes no sense to me! :)  i need to take that statement back.  we ate some awesome food!

friday night we didn't have reservations so we just walked around and checked out menus at some of the places that were recommended to us or that we had read about online.  we ended up eating at irene's.  we had to wait about an hour so next time we will get reservations! of course, my pictures are terrible because they are from my phone and the restaurant is dark.

this is a bruschetta that they brought to the table as we were seated!

my salad was their nightly special--tomato and buffalo mozzarella with arugala and toasted pumpkin seeds with a white wine vinaigrette.  zeb got the caesar and said my was better.

zeb got the cannelloni and it was fabulous! i got ravioli and it was really good as well.

i can't remember the name of our dessert but it was the bread pudding-it was as good as it looked!

the next morning we got beignets.  we actually got them both mornings.  saturday was good and the service was good.  sunday we waited at our table for 25 minutes before we got any service and honestly that really was frustrating so they didn't taste as good day 2.

we rode the street car down to the garden district and walked around and looked at houses and did a little shopping on magazine street. i don't think i have ever done that side of new orleans and it was so calm and nice!

this was my favorite house

saturday night we ate a she marie which is new.  it was very modern inside and my drum fish was perfectly prepared!  

on sunday we went to my first ever nfl game.  zeb has been helping a bank with a wellness program so they took us down there.  we sat in their box-so to say that we were spoiled is an understatement.  it had quite the view.  there was food there so i ate boiled shrimp and a hotdog!  sounds good together, huh?   it was a weird combo but i can never turn down shrimp or a hotdog!

the game was really good and the saints pulled out a W in the end!  i told zeb i had a hard time paying attention to the game because i couldn't stop people watching! i had no idea people got into the nfl like that--i mean grown women wearing tutu's!

A weird day

This sweet little girl lost her 2nd tooth on Sunday during lunch.  She bit into a piece of bread and nearly jumped out of her seat.  All I did was reach in and grab it.  It was already out.  She got $3 for her first tooth and the tooth fairy left $1 this time.  She was ready to go spend her money.  This is the first time she has ever spent money.  Usually we just put it in the piggy bank.  I took her to Target after school on a date to find a toy.  She had so much fun and had a huge grin on her face as she carefully examined each and every toy.  

I love the excitement on her face when she finally decided on one--the Rapunzel doll!  She and Leigh have  brushed her hair and played with her all afternoon.

But, at check out is where the story gets odd.  She gives it to the checker and then hands her her $5. I had a couple of more things so I was just gonna pay for the rest.  SB proudly tells her that this is from the tooth fairy and that she has lost two teeth!  The checker had the gall to say and I quote "I remember when I lost my teeth.  I would wake up in the morning and my momma would have forgotten and then she gave me $20."  I mean--SERIOUSLY!! COME ON!!!!  I could immediately tell where this was headed so I was trying my hardest to distract SB while politely trying to get the woman to hush!

Then...just a few minutes ago.  I get a call from a number that has been calling several times a day. I have not ever answered it before, but I listened to a message on my machine earlier that said hit 3 if you want to opt out of receiving this call. So, that was my plan.  To listen to the recording asking me if I wanted to reduce my credit card interest rates and then hit 3.  Only this time (I guess since I answered it) that was not an option.  I hit 9 to talk to an operator and politely asked them to take me off their list and not to call back.  It was then that I felt like I was locked in the worst movie that I could ever imagine only all that bad language was directed at me.  I am not kidding.  I have not ever heard anyone actually say all of the stuff he said.  I am still shaking from it.  I hung up and called our credit card and they said that it was someone trying to steal our information.  I am not sure what I am going to do because they said that they couldn't do anything.  Tomorrow I guess I will call Comcast and get the number blocked and call the BBB and report them???  Has that ever happened to you?  Any advice?  AHHHHH!!!

Promises

It was bathtime at our house when this beautiful rainbow appeared.  Thankfully my sister and our neighbor called to tell us about it.

"And I put my bow in the cloud..." Gen 9:13a

God is good.  He is faithful and He does keep his promises.

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

(sure wish i really knew how to work my camera)

Friday and "choot 'em"

So this post is completely random, but oh well!  Friday was "a"theletic shirt day.  My sister, Elizabeth, made SB a shirt to wear. Her class has lots of State fans, including her teacher.  Unfortunately this came the next morning after a sad loss to LSU.  

If you need a shirt, dress, or romper--supporting a team, holiday, animal, etc... click on Just Tee-sing on the right of my blog and order some.  She is ridiculously cheap--I told her she should up her prices--except for me of course! (I had not washed this shirt which is why it looks box"y".  I have washed it now and it is great!

Friday was C day for Leigh so she made cinnamon cookies and capri suns.  Sister was at school so she had a blast making these by herself.

And finally...a big THANK  YOU to Aunt Chris (Zeb's aunt) for sending the kiddos these Swamp People shirts.  Zeb's mom's family is from Plaquemine,  Louisianna  which is about as Cajun as you can get!  They were so excited and have had them on all afternoon and are now sleeping in them!

And Grump Man (as he was known today) would not sit for a picture.

Yesterday

Yesterday morning, Leigh, Sam and I went to the library for story time.  Sam seems to really be getting in to it!

It was also his first time to color--I love the pride on his little face!

After naps we went on a walk, which ended up being a really long walk so we could go watch the trucks.  The girls had to have their babies too!

Sara Beth and Leigh were cracking me up.  They would squat beside Sam and say, "truck, Sam, truck.  Can you say truck?"  I also that it was funny that SB and Leigh would jump at the loud noises from the trucks and he wouldn't even flinch!  I love how different God made boys and girls!

Dancers at the wedding

So, let me just say, it is perfectly acceptable to take pictures at this wedding. During the ceremony, people would answer their phones or play handheld games, so pictures weren't distracting!

The brought in a DJ from New York to emcee the reception. Tradition has it that the bride and groom and their families walk in separately while everyone is "giving it up" for them! Then Seema's sister and cousin dance for them. I got a little of that on video. After that, Seema and Kendall danced and then all the married couples in the room joined in in show of support of their marriage. I thought that was a pretty cool thing.

Next came 30-45 minutes of dancing, then dinner. Dinner consisted of both Indian and American cuisine. It was all so good. It was 10:00 by this time, so Zeb and I called it a night since my sister was keeping our kiddos. (we got there at 5) I haven't heard yet what time it ended, but I am sure I was deep in dreams when it did!

I think I forgot to mention that the entire wedding took place at The South.

An Indian Wedding

We had a very fun weekend!  Seema, a UMC resident, got married.  She is of Indian descent so she had a traditional Indian wedding.  Let me give you a piece of advice...if you ever get invited to an Indian wedding-GO!  It is very different from our traditional Christian ceremonies.

Here we are...ready to go!

The ceremony isn't the main part--the reception is.  In India the guest arrive about 45 minutes after the ceremony starts.  There are about a dozen different parts to the ceremony, but the order doesn't really matter.  It is just whatever the officiant wants to do.  He informs the bride and groom and their families as the ceremony proceeds.  Unfortunately I couldn't really get any good pictures,  but I will try to "borrow" some from a friend.

Seema was throwing rice over her head onto their families for good luck as they left the ceremony.  I hope I can find a good picture of her gown.  It was absolutely amazing.  I believe she told me it was hand made in India--gorgeous!

The tables were beautiful.

Behind those curtains was where the cocktail hour was.  The appetizers were delicious.  Then we walked through the curtains to a seated buffet dinner.

The bride and groom- Kendall and Seema

I have some video to that I took that I will upload soon!  Every single detail was taken care of--it was so fun!

And the nightstand did it again...

The Hensons and nightstands don't seem to be getting along lately.  It was about 2 months ago that Sara Beth rolled into hers during the night and cut her eyelid.  Well, this time, it was Sam.  He pulled his over on him.  Thankfully Zeb was home and it was 5:15, so everyone had not even left clinic yet.  One UMC clinic is just 4 or 5 minutes from our house so we headed there.  Several nurses and Jimmy Stewart hung around for us to get there.  Sam was such a trooper!  He barely cried at all.  (He has a cold so his cry is hoarse--that really broke my heart)  He seems good to go now though!  I thought he would wake up with a black eye, but it's not.  Just swollen and red!

One a separate note, I have to say thanks to our neighbors.  I really don't know what we would do with out them.  Thursday afternoon Austin (the dog) had a really long copperhead snake in her mouth that she killed.  She wouldn't leave it alone and I was maybe or maybe not hyperventilating over it! :)  Earl came down and disposed of the snake for me! Then, yesterday when Sam cut his eye, Janet came and watched the girls and then cooked my apples that I had cut up for dinner so they wouldn't go bad!  Everyone needs some neighbors like them!

Girl in Camo

We own no camo.  Thankfully the Odoms do, so we borrowed some for Camo Day last Friday!  I wish I had noticed her eyes are halfway closed when I took the picture!  It was exciting not to have to wear the uniform!

Morning Messes thanks to Lee

We got somewhere over 11 inches of rain thanks to Tropical Depression Lee.  You can see what that did to the creek behind our house and to our yard.    We are up on a hill so none of this water got close to our house, but you can see how high up it came in our yard.  Needless to say our flower beds are ruined and we have a lot to clean up.  We are very thankful for cooler weather to work outside in!

This morning I got Sam out of his room and then washed his sheet and changing pad cover because his room smelled awful!  None of that helped though.  Then after my shower I walked barefoot into his room to put him down for his nap.  The carpet in his closet was wet.  Real wet and so was by his window.  Zeb pulled all the carpet padding out and we are trying to dry the carpet out.  Hopefully it will only take a few days because Sam doesn't like sleeping in the bathroom!  We are very thankful it appears to just be the carpet!

And we are hoping that tomorrow we will wake up and not find another mess!  I learned a big lesson though.  When you have a flash flood walk around your house barefoot--we never do and now our house stinks!